Nottingham at Night: What UNC’s New Stadium Lights Mean to Students

On Friday, Aug. 28, students and alumni piled into Nottingham Field to experience the University of Northern Colorado’s first-ever night football game.

“I think the lights helped us with engagement a lot,” UNC junior Alyssa Blaise said. “Like on Friday night, the first game was the most packed I’ve ever seen that stadium and I usually go to a lot of the football games.”

In May, UNC athletics announced the installation of lights at Nottingham Field, putting an end to three decades of daylight football games. UNC athletics collaborated with Musco Sports Lighting on the estimated $1.6 million project and reached its completion just in time for the Bears’ first home game.

Faith Sparrow, a UNC senior and president of the Women’s Rugby Club, said the lights increase the legitimacy of UNC’s football team.

“I feel like it was a little tacky that our college football team didn’t have their own lights," Sparrow said. “It felt like we didn't have a real college football team.”

As students continue to attend games and enjoy the new lights, some have also raised questions about the funding for the project.

“I think it’s good, but considering we’ve already had a ton of budget problems without tuition going up and things like that, do we really need to be putting money into sports?” UNC junior Katy Opp said. “I mean I know it brings a lot of people but … we don’t really have that much school spirit for football specifically.”

While school spirit and the proper allocation of funding concern some students, other students see the broader impacts of the project.

“More people are more likely to go to the football games and people are actually paying for it,” Sparrow said. “So I understand this is something that brings us money and is well known, so we are gonna put our money towards this.”

Although budget concerns have raised questions within the student body, the entire $1.6 million project was funded through private philanthropy and sponsorship revenue. The lights and the funding for their construction were a large demonstration of support from the community for UNC athletics.

Blaise said the funds and philanthropy are being used to encourage students.

“I think it made it more fun,” Blaise said. “And it shows that we’re using our funding for student engagement and to improve things that the students can see, because I think a lot of times we don’t know where our funding is going.”

With the new stadium lights, students can finally experience the tradition of nighttime games.

“I have probably missed one football game, but I feel like I’ve gone to most of them,” Opp said. “I support the Bears.”

Students can buy tickets for the 2026 football season through the UNC ticket office or online at https://tickets.unco.edu/athle....